Shipping Wars IV
by tbehartoo
Summary: The shipping continues! This time Adrien and Nino are setting sail.


Adrien and Nino were sitting on the couch in Adrien's room getting ready to play the newest "Ladybug & Chat Noir: Mission Paris III" video game.

After their third loss, Nino insisted that he get to play Ladybug and Adrien take the black clad cat-boy. It seemed like this was their lucky charm as suddenly they were winning against the akumas. Adrien seeming to have an innate understanding on how to use his Cataclysm powers to help Nino's Ladybug to beat the different monsters. They reached the final boss, Hawkmoth of course, and were able to defeat him after only four different Lucky Charms.

Adrien looked up at the clock and was surprised to see how late it was.

"Hey, Nino," he began as he put the controller down, "Would you like to stay for dinner? I didn't realize it was this late."

"Is it okay with your dad, bro?" He had been given reluctant permission to come over and was trying not to be permanently banned from the house.

"Give me a minute to go check with Nathalie," Adrien said as he left the room.

When he came back Nino was playing in single player mode as...Chat Noir?

"You can play as just Chat on this?"

"Oh yeah dude. It's totally amazing. He even has a special night vision mode that lets you get to akuma in the catacombs. It's sic dude!"

"What happens when you get the akuma item?" Adrien asked. "He can't cleanse it can he?"

"Oh Ladybug pops up and purifies it," Nino said slightly distracted.

Adrien watched until Nino went down in flames to the boss on this level.

"It's no use dude! Chat Noir is nothing without Ladybug," Nino grumbled.

"That's too true," Adrien agreed. "Nathalie said you could stay and she'd let us order whatever you wanted," he said with a grin.

Nino brightened up. "Anything?" he asked.

Adrien's smile widened as he nodded.

Nino did a fist pump. "Alright, one American-style bacon cheeseburger pizza with extra fries for us tonight dude."

Adrien's jaw dropped and he seemed stunned by Nino's suggestion.

"Does such a thing exist?" he whispered in awe.

Nino nodded. "There's a place that Alya took me to that makes it and I thought it was going to be horrible, but it turns out to be the best thing I've ever eaten. Please don't tell her mother I said that." He took out his phone and pulled up their webpage. "Oh dude," his face became serious, "they don't do delivery."

"It's okay," Adrien reassured him, "Nathalie said she'd send the Gorilla to get whatever we wanted since we're not allowed to leave the premises." He looked over his friend's shoulder as he began their order, "Better add a salad so I can truthfully tell my dad that's what I had."

Nino chuckled and added one order of carmel apple fruit salad to the list.

Adrien just stared at the description. "That sounds like a sugar coma, Nino."

"Oh dude, we are so going to have the best nap once the sugar high wears off," he said with a grin. "All right, it's ordered and should be ready in about twenty minutes."

Adrien took Nino's phone and sent the information to Nathalie so that the Gorilla could pick it up.

The boys went back to their game, this time playing 1-on-1 each of them choosing Ladybug for one round and Chat for the next. They only paused the game when the pizza was brought up to Adrien's room.

They were listening to one of Nino's mixes while eating the greasy pizza and they started talking about the game makers.

"Did you know they're already working on the next installment of this game?" Nino began.

"I can see why," Adrien said. "This one has yet to stay on any store shelf for more than a couple of hours. The graphics are amazing and those akuma are terrifying."

"That's cause Ladybug and Chat Noir are awesome!" Nino gave Adrien a fist bump. "But what's cool is that in the next one you'll be able to play as a hero of Paris."

"What?" Adrien was confused. "How?"

"Well you get to make your own character based on like seven or eight different animals and then you get paired up with either Ladybug or Chat Noir and earn powers and parts of your costume as you take down akuma together."

"That sounds awesome."

"I know right?"

"Who would you want to be partnered with?" Adrien asked knowing who he'd personally want, but Nino had never mentioned a preference for one hero over the other.

Nino shrugged. "I guess it would depend. Do you get the same powers no matter who you're partnered with or do you get different ones to balance out the hero you picked?"

"Oooh, a difficult dilemma," Adrien said while trying to put on a philosopher's air. It might have worked better if he hadn't had a dribble of carmel on his chin.

Nino handed him a napkin and made a wiping motion at his own chin while grinning. Adrien hurried to get the sticky substance off his face while Nino laughed at the trouble the little line of carmel was giving him.

"Let's say you develop whatever powers your animal would have regardless of who your partner is," Adrien said as he tried to get their conversation back on track. "Who would you want to become a hero with?"

Nino took a large bite of pizza and chewed it thoughtfully. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "They are both pretty awesome. I guess I'd have to flip a coin or something." He looked over at Adrien. "I'm sure we both know you'd pick Ladybug in a hot second," he said as he waggled his eyebrows.

Adrien grinned at him. "How ever did you guess that I'd choose the love of my life?"

Nino gave him a deadpan look.

"I don't know," he said in a voice void of emotion, "somehow it just came to me."

He then changed to a high pitched voice and began to gesticulate wildly.

"Nino you must see the new Ladybug doll that I got from the official Ladybug site that has all things Ladybug. I have two so that I can keep one Ladybug in-box and perfect as she always is, but dolls were meant to be played with so of course I have this one ready and you can be Chat Noir…"

Adrien lunged at him from his place on the couch. "They're action figures not mere dolls and I do not sound like that," he challenged as he tried to wrestle Nino's arms to his side.

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!" Adrien huffed out. "It's unfair that you aren't ticklish Nino."

Nino just laughed and squirmed away from Adrien. Adrien proceeded to chase his friend around his room shouting down Nino's attempts to portray him as anything other than a serious collector of action figures.

They stopped abruptly when Adrien ran into Gorilla as he stood just inside of Adrien's door holding a tablet in the direction of the room. Gabriel's face was looking directly into the face of his son.

"Adrien," he said primly. "This is not the kind of behavior I expect from you."

Adrien instinctively lowered his head. He did his best to look abashed in front of his father.

"I told you that your friend could come over if you did not disturb my work, now didn't I?" The man waited for Adrien to respond.

"Yes, father," he said as clearly as he could while nearly whispering.

"Very well," Gabriel said and glanced off the screen at something that Nathalie was probably pointing to. "If you two think you can refrain from acting like wild animals then your friend may stay." He looked back into the camera and fixed Adrien with a steely glare, "If I am interrupted again your friend will go home and you will not have any more visitors. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," the relief showed in Adrien's face. "Thank you, father."

"Thank you, sir," Nino threw in at the last moment.

Gabriel Agreste merely nodded his head before severing the connection.

Both boys let out a shaky laugh as Gorilla gave them a wink before leaving the room and closing the door firmly behind him.

They stared at each other for a moment as they processed what happened.

"Dude," Nino whispered, "is your dad ok? I thought for sure he was going to have me skinned alive and place my head on a spike as a warning to others."

Adrien snickered. "Ever since the akuma prevention law was passed he's been taking anger management classes three times a week and he's even in the yoga class that Ms. Bustier goes to at Le Spa Dans le Noir." He leaned in closer to his friend. "I think she's been giving him parenting tips, because he always grumbles about having homework when he comes back from there." He smiled at Nino who tried to match the expression.

"Dude!"

"I know!"

"One more round?" Nino suggested as he motioned toward the TV with his head.

"Sure," Adrien said as he grabbed the controllers and tossed one to Nino, "but I want to do teams again. It's more fun to beat up akuma as a team."

"Agreed."

"Hey, Nino," Adrien asked as casually as he could during one of the unskippable cutscenes.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you think in our class would want to be on team Ladybug, besides me, of course."

Nino thought for a moment before saying, "Well Alya and Chloe for sure. Oh, and I know I heard Rose talking about how brave she thinks the Lady is and how she'd like to be more like her."

Adrien nodded and huffed out a breath. "I was thinking more along the lines of what other guys might want to be...paired up with her," he admitted.

Nino chuckled. "Don't worry dude, I think you have the worst case of Ladybug-itis in the entire class."

Adrien took a brief moment to bump Nino's shoulder with his. "Thanks, but…" the game had resumed and he needed to use his cataclysm, "you know what I mean."

Nino nodded even though he knew Adrien was watching the screen and not him. "Okay, so I know for sure that Nathaniel has switched from liking Marinette to definitely liking Ladybug," he began.

"What?!" Adrien's character got hit by the akuma's brick beam. He cleared his throat before asking, "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Nino said as he used the yo-yo to get Chat to safety. "You should ask him to show you some of his comics, some time."

"I'll have to do that," Adrien muttered.

"Maybe he can draw you some special requests?" Nino teased.

"Nino, come on," Adrien cajoled.

"Fine, fine," he said as his character dived off screen to chase the akuma. "I know that Max has been a big Ladybug fan ever since she beat him up in that ultimate mecha battle."

"Hey, Chat Noir helped with that, too."

"Well maybe Max prefers to have his butt kicked by girls?"

"Niiiiiiiinoooooooo!"

The boy in question just laughed. "If you keep that up I won't tell you that Ivan and Mylene have Ladybug and Chat Noir on their relationship exception list."

Adrien paused the game as he stared at Nino who just grinned and nodded.

"But they're so cute together!" Adrien objected. "And-and so in love?"

Nino nodded again. "Apparently Mylene has admitted that she's okay with Ivan having a fling with Ladybug as long as she got to have one with Chat at the same time."

Adrien sat stunned.

"Mylene and Chat?" Adrien asked. The thought of being with Mylene hadn't really occurred to him, but that's probably because she and Ivan had been a couple almost as long as he'd known them. He shook his head, "That just seems to be against nature."

"Agreed dude," Nino said as he started the game back up. "What do you think about Juleka and Chat?"

"As a couple, couple or as a superhero team?"

"Couple, couple."

"I, uh, thought she liked Rose?" Adrien was confused again.

"Yeah, but think of the aesthetic dude. They'd look beautiful together."

"True," Adrien slowly agreed, "but I don't think you should break Rose's heart for aesthetic."

"Yeah, that would probably cause an akuma that puts Princess Fragrance to shame."

Adrien shuddered. Princess Fragrance hadn't been one of the worst akumas he'd dealt with, but thinking of what Rose would turn into because of a broken heart made him nervous.

"We do not need a broken hearted Briar Rose Akuma," Adrien said with finality. After another moment he asked, "Well who in the class would be a good match for Chat if not Juleka, Rose or Mylene?"

Nino thought for a moment as he concentrated on the game. "Well Sabrina is always playing Chat Noir to Chloe's Ladybug. Maybe she'd like to play with the real thing.'

Adrien found himself blushing at Nino's implied innuendo. "Uh, I don't think she would," he said. When Nino quirked a brow in his direction he added, "That's something she's trying to figure out for herself right now."

"Oh?" Nino was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Good to know. I'll try not to tease her about liking anyone until she's figured it out."

"Thanks man," Adrien said.

"Anything for my fellow questioners," Nino said with a smile. "But that means that we've found plenty of matches for the Bug but not so many for the Cat."

"Who haven't we mentioned?" Adrien said more to himself than to Nino. "What about Lila?"

Nino just shook his head. "She's already claimed to be a fox and that's one step away from a dog." He shook his head again for emphasis. "Not good my dude, cats and dogs? Not good."

Adrien chuckled. "Fair point."

"I think the only girl we haven't tried from class is Alix," Nino said as he thought through their conversation.

They both burst out in laughter.

"Alix would make a great superhero partner for Chat but I don't think she can be bothered with love and other romantic nonsense," Adrien said.

"Oh, I so agree with that statement," Nino said as he continued to chuckle.

"That just leaves Kim and, and you," Adrien said and suddenly he sobered up.

"Well, I happen to know that Kim would definitely tap that," Nino said very matter-of-factly.

"How do you kno-"

"I am not discussing it," Nino said with finality. "That is fifteen minutes that I wish I had both amnesia and brain bleach for, and you are never to bring it up again."

"Yes, sir," Adrien said with a grin knowing that that was certainly something he was going to get Kim to tell him about. "What about you though?" he asked a little more warily.

"I'm not going to lie," Nino began, "Chat is certainly a very handsome man, and I appreciate everything he does to protect the city and keep us all safe."

Adrien nodded.

"However…"

"However?"

"I'm not touching him without Alya's permission... and participation."

Adrien choked and coughed before wheezing, "What?"

Nino grinned at him. "Come on dude, do you think Alya would approve under any other conditions?"

Adrien had to shake his head. "No, I don't think she would. But what about Ladybug?"

"She can come along, too," he said without much thought.

Adrien's player walked off a building as his brain had stopped functioning. It didn't matter as Nino's Ladybug had just used her Lucky Charm to beat Hawkmoth.

As the final cutscene played out Nino suddenly nudged Adrien's arm. "There's one person from class we didn't think about for Chat."

"Who?" he asked in a bit of a daze.

Nino pointed to the screen where Ladybug and Chat Noir were performing their signature fistbump. "Only the biggest Chat Noir fangirl of them all," he supplied. "Despite what Alya thinks, you should totally get Ladybug so that Chat Noir can have Marinette!"

Adrien's face heated up at the thought.

"But what if I want both of them?" he asked, looking at the screen intently.

Nino burst out laughing. "That's something the four of you will have to figure out."

"The four of us?" he asked confused.

"Yeah," Nino was still giggling. "I'm pretty sure you're going to have to share at least _**one**_ of those girls with Chat."

Adrien sat back grumbling. Nino burst out when he processed Adrien's words.

"Not bloody likely!"


End file.
